Virtual Learning in London School - Research Paper Example

 «Virtual Learning in London School» Background Secondary school ICT teachers have grown to appreciate the vital role that technology can play in student’s educational development and for the teaching profession as a whole. The role of technology departments can be complex and multilayered. They can be drivers for new technology systems to be implemented within the schooling community. Also other members of the staff can help the technology department. The role of teachers can be vital. Teachers affiliated with other subject areas may use the technology as a knowledge base for their cohort. Instructors of the technology related subjects may frequently be given the basic training from experts when new systems are introduced within a school with the expectation that they will rapidly assimilate the knowledge and be able to successfully cascade the knowledge to the rest of the school. Virtual Learning was first introduced within my school community in the summer of 2007 by the Head of ICT and the designated Project Manager with responsibility for networking. The exciting capabilities indicated that the system could strengthen the achievements for ICT across the curriculum and improve teaching and learning school wide. As is common, the ICT department would lead the development and then steer the whole school initiative. After three years the results are very disappointing - despite some successes the VLE system has hardly been used by other departments. There is little evidence that enhancements to teaching and learning have occurred in the school. This work seeks to discover if this is a familiar pattern in other secondary schools. What lessons can be learned from the use of such a system and what benefits or improvements can be seen in student’s progression and achievements where it has been a success? The aim of the paper is to suggest improvements in implementation of such a system. Introduction There has been a significant rise in the introduction and development of Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) within secondary schools in the United Kingdom as it has been realised by several institutions that there are real benefits in operating a virtual environment. This advancement in the technology has seen a decrease in the traditional classroom techniques and strategies as more institutions are looking for a more dynamic and prevalent ways in encouraging greater independence, collaboration and flexibility in the way they teach and how students learn. A Virtual Learning Environment is a software design to support teaching and learning in the education system, which includes most of the following features: Communication tools such as email, bulletin boards and chat rooms Collaboration tools such as online forums, intranets, electronic diaries and calendars Tools to create online content and courses Online assessment and marking Integration with school management information systems Controlled access to curriculum resources Student access to content and communications beyond the school. The Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) can be an effective method of disseminating information which allows students and teachers to access resources such as notes, handouts, practice tests, video clips and links to internet sites remotely through preset courses. Virtual Learning Environment can increase the motivation of the students and can inspire rapid learning (Weller, 2007). In the age of technology, the growing need of such techniques is necessary to instigate learning in students. And this process should be started from early years so students can benefit from it at a young age. Although this is a developing concept in secondary schools it has shown to have tremendous benefits if designed and used properly. A virtual learning environment can integrate learning in a variety of ways by using tools supporting multiple functions including providing information, communication structured or unstructured, collaboration, learning and management (Alavi & Leidner, 2002). Virtual Learning is beneficial in learning for a variety of reasons. It has been found that grouping of individuals facilitate learning (Johnson & Johnson, 1975). Virtual Learning Environment is also group- based learning so this may help the overall learning process that the school wants to promote. Virtual Learning Environment should enhance learning, giving learners the opportunity to reinforce aspects of their work as well as the chance to catch up on missed material. It is vital that the materials used in the Virtual Learning Environment confirm accuracy, relevance, currency, suitability, or usage. The resources used should be lead to its full exploitation which will engage students, while teachers should demonstrate enthusiasm with its use as it gives pupils opportunities to take responsibility in managing their course work. With well designed, made-to-measure Virtual Learning platform has the opportunity to raise standards in teaching and learning and offer up-to-the minute information for pupils. However, teachers must take into account the attributes of each learner, intended learning outcome, the availability of facilities and services to match their needs. One of the issues that instructors are facing in implementation of VLE is their lack of understanding of the purpose of the system. The purpose of VLE is to break away from the traditional patterns of learning but the old and conventional thinking of instructors is a hindrance in the achievement of this aim (Stiles, M. 2000). Regardless of this issue schools are trying to implement the VLE. Most schools now view VLE capabilities as the way forward in offering personalized learning to learners, enabling assessment and data to be transparent and better managed. VLE is now considered a necessity by many schools. Within the last three years many schools have implemented Virtual Learning Environment systems which are used by students and staff. The trend of VLE has also been supported by governments in many countries and they have laid down specific policies that deal with the promotion of VLE in higher education systems (Konard, J. 2003). The VLE system is primarily used to track pupil progress, facilitate the availability of resources, and communication between learners and teachers or learners and peers. Although the VLE is used in most schools, the system is not managed properly; therefore leaders will not see the real benefits. Many teachers and support workers find it hard to use basic applications on a computer and will therefore struggle in using a VLE system properly. This filters into issues surrounding the fact that many schools constantly implement new software without any adequate training or support given to learners, teachers and support workers. Operating a Virtual Learning system can be beneficial however; this comes with some responsibility to the organisation: training, course management, user management, technical support and web hosting and maintenance. Virtually Learning can be considered to be successful within a school setting when it is adopted as a school policy and used to enhance teaching and learning across all department and stages, and where teachers and learners fully understand its use and functionality. It is important to note that involvement of all the bodies within the school can make VLE a success. Research Objectives This research aims to find out the following: The effectiveness of these systems in tracking and managing pupil progress by teachers and Senior Leaders. The benefits to schools in providing personalised and independent learning to pupils which will better equip them for higher education and work. The effective use of resources by pupils, teachers and support staff. The accessibility of the system by pupils, teachers and support staff. Purpose The main purpose of this research is to evaluate how Virtual Learning Environment is being used in secondary schools to enhance teaching and learning. It also seeks to explore senior leaders and teacher’s mindset in the capability of this system being used in helping to raise achievement and progress within the school community. Hypothesis Although VLE can be of interest to schools and there are features that will grab the attention of students in and out of lessons. Also teachers are finding it difficult to properly utilise and coordinate the features of such a system within traditional teaching methods. Research Overview This research will seek to explore the effectiveness of Virtual Learning within secondary schools in regards to teaching and learning. It will also try to evaluate if teachers and senior leaders have managed to successfully use such a system to raise achievement and progress within their school. Chapter 4 Since the emergence of VLE many secondary schools within London have invested in one of the many learning platforms available with an insight to improve the teaching and learning. VLE can bring transparencies and consistency within an educational institution if it is widely used and adapted by teachers, parents and learners. Although the system is fairly straightforward appropriate training and support must be given to all users for all features to be fully utilised to everyone’s benefit. This investigation seeks to explore and communicate how secondary schools are using the VLE and how effective is such a system across the school community. 4.1 Usage Each VLE system encompasses different features for users to take advantage of. Most schools choose their VLEs based on a particular VLE based upon instructions from the Local Authority or recommendations from a cohort of schools within the specific borough. Figure 9.1 shows the different types of VLE platforms within London. Frontier is the popular with 40% of schools using such a system followed by Its Learning. Figure 4.1.1 Most secondary schools have up to fifteen departments or five faculties, with each having its own unique curriculum with some aspects of ICT; therefore VLEs can easily be used as method to reinforce learning and objective. Figure 4.1.2 demonstrates the used of VLE by departments within secondary schools which show that it is mostly used by ICT, Media and English, with the no usage from the foods department. This result is very obvious because departments that can facilitate learning through VLE use it. Figure 4.1.2 In order for students to grasp and applied any knowledge learnt within a subject(s) then a consistent approach must be adhere to by teachers within the school community or a department policy must exist as to any objective taught, resources given or the type of reinforcement. Many teachers have their own method of delivery, however due to every child matters, the disability act, black and ethnic minority group teachers must use a variety of ways to bring information across to students that could include any technology that will enhance learning. The use of VLE is also imposed on at an institutional level so teachers usually have to use it to disseminate course information to students. Based on the investigation in figure 4.1.3 it is clear that 53% of teachers have used the VLE within lesson, Figure 4.1.3 However as shown in figure 4.1.4 under 20% of these teachers used the VLE in every lesson while 51% used it occasionally. Figure 4.1.4 This could be based on the fact that most teachers used the VLE within Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5 where students are more independent learners and responsible learners. Very young children may also not be very apt for using such technologies. Although some teachers especially ICT and English teachers used the VLE with every year group figure 4.1.5 shows that the VLE is mostly used from Years 10 to 13 with a slight increase of use in Year 11. An increase of use at the age of 11 may because of the new interest many students of this age have in technology. Figure 4.1.5 4.2 The effectiveness of these systems in tracking and managing pupil progress by teachers and Senior Leaders. Most VLE system allows teachers to upload resources such as podcast video and audio file, URL link and create test geared towards specific objective however while 58% of teachers surveyed are unsure of how effective are the benefit of feedback communicated using the VLE in line with students achieving a lesson objective while 10% of teachers thinks it an excellent tool as any concept not captured by the students can easily be reinforced using materials online. These results are giving a clear idea about the mentality of teachers about the VLE system. The traditional thinking about the teaching may be a reason for such disbelief in VLE. Figure 4.2.1 However 51% of teachers are not convince that feedback given to students using such a system is effective in improving achievement and progress within schools as shown in table 4.2.2. Do you find that these feedbacks are effective in student’s achievement and progress? % of  Respondents  Yes  49% No  51% Table 4.2.2 Grade book is one of the many features teachers use for formal assessment and comments on assess task. Therefore, in order for teacher to be able to track achievements and progress using VLE then grade book must be establish on each course and task with a formal assessment boundary set up. Table 4.2.3 shows that only 28% of teachers who has set up courses on the VLE as use grade book to track students achievement and progress and only 16% has actually export grade book so students can keep track of their own assessment and progress as shown in table 4.2.4. Table 4.2.3 Do you export grade book so students can keep track of their assessment and progress?  Respondents  Yes  16% No  84% Table 4.2.4 Despite this, 43% of teachers is convince that it can bring about some improvement in progress and achievement, while 32% is unsure as shown in figure 4.2.5. Figure 4.2.5 As show in Table 4.2.6, 59% of teachers think VLE should be an all school initiative for submission and assessment of pupils work and 49% think in the other way. Table 4.2.6 Although teachers believe that the VLE should roll out and used by all departments and teachers 38% is undecided as to whether it should be used by SLT to track overall pupil progress across departments as shown in Table 4.2.7. Table 4.2.7 4.3 Collaboration In 1998 The Standard and Framework Act was established which constitute Section 110 and 111 known formally as the Home School Agreement. This act was brought about to form better relationship with parents, students and the school community for any child in compulsory education. It outcomes are to improve communication between home and school, allow parents and teachers to work on issues of concerns, parents supporting their children at home more effectively and identification of any issues that need to be addressed through the school development plan. With this act been set in stone parents should be inform school initiatives to enhance learning in terms of expectations, targets, lessons and materials available to students. However 63% or teachers surveyed did not inform parents about the accessibility of resources by students on the VLE system anywhere in the world. Have you inform parents about the accessibility of resources and students grades on the VLE? % of  Respondents  Yes  37% No  63% Table 4.3.1 Due to this lack of communication and insight teachers specified that 87% of parents was unsure of the VLE main features, while the 11% who has some knowledge regard them as being good as shown in Figure 4.3.2. This lack of communication may also be a hindrance in the implementation of VLE in high schools. Figure 4.3.2 As figures outline earlier only a few teachers used the VLE on a regular basis and it only used by some departments. It is vital that consistency across key stages in a department is established for the right outcome and quality assurance. This is achieve with regular monitoring by Heads of Departments, but investigation shown in figure 4.3.3 that 59% of teacher’s line manager wasn’t a participant on their course, 38% line manager didn’t monitor any resources, comments and pupil progress in course group. Figure 4.3.4 illustrates that most teachers are convince that the VLE is effective for file sharing across Departments with 10% seeing it as an excellent method, 23% as good and 29% as fair, however 26% is unsure. Figure 4.3.4 4.4 The benefits to schools in providing personalised and independent learning to pupils which will better equip them for higher education and work. As the VLE is accessible from anywhere 16% of teacher consider it to be an excellent way to bring information across to pupils, while an almost equal share percentage considers it to be good and fair as shown in figure 4.4.1. However this shows that the belief in the information dissemination is not very much. Figure 4.4.1 Personalised and independent learning is familiar within schools. This is a highly structured approach which enables teaching and learning to be tailored towards pupil’s individual needs. The investigation shows that more than 75% of the teachers think that VLE is been an effective method in enabling personalised and independent learning as illustrated in figure 4.4.2. Figure 4.4.2 4.5 The effective use of resources by pupils, teachers and support staff In order for teachers, pupils and support workers to make use of any resources a designated person within a department must set a course on the VLE giving access right to individual person or groups. In figure 4.5.1it is clear that 68% of teachers have set up courses on their VLE system. Figure 4.5.1 With all year groups as participants, however figure 4.5.2 shows that this system is mostly used by years 10 and 11 students. Figure 4.5.2 However, only 53% of teachers allow students to submit work on the VLE. Do you allow students to submit work on the VLE?  Respondents  Yes  53% No  47% Table 4.5.3 Homework is the mostly submitted task on the VLE which is 51%, while 31% of coursework and 12% of Class work as shown in figure 4.5.4. Figure 4.5.4 Although just over half of the teachers surveyed allow students to submit work on the VLE 83% of them have uploaded resources for students to use.      Do you upload resources for the students who are participants on your course to use? % of  Respondents  Yes  83% No  17% Table 4.5.5 The test feature is another useful tool on a VLE system. This tool allows teachers to set a formal assess test incorporating a variety of response such as short answer, multiple choice, fill in the blank, essay, drag and drop and hot spot.. The test is assessed by the system using assigned depending on the question type using assigned grade and level boundaries, thus giving students, teachers and support workers immediate feedback on achievement and progress. However 65% of teachers don’t use this assessment tool. Do you use the VLE to set test?  Respondents  Yes  35% No  65% Table 4.5.6 And opting to use this feature creates mostly multiple choice test questions as shown in figure 4.5.7. Figure 4.5.7 Understanding and challenges 4.6 The accessibility of the system by pupils, teachers and support staff As with most system when introduced within a school community appropriate training is given to staff members as a whole with continuous support. The VLE system is an internet based system which is private to only its users. Each school signing up to a site license will allow each users individual password and login which allow them to access tier feature. However some users still find it difficult to use the main feature, however only 10% of find their understanding for the VLE to be poor and 2% are unsure. These results may be because of the fact that young students are well familiar with the technology of computers. Figure 4.6.1 Bibliography Alavi, M. & Leidner D. 2000. Virtual learning systems. In H.Bidgoli (Ed.), Encyclopedia of information systems (561–572). Academic Press. Johnson, W & Johnson, T. 1975. Learning together and alone: Cooperation, competition, and individualization. Prentice Hall. Konard, John. 2003. Review of educational research on virtual learning environments VLE - implications for the improvement of teaching and learning and access to formal learning in Europe. Education Online. Viewed September 22, 2010. Stiles, M. 2000. Effective Learning and the Virtual Learning Environment. The Learning Development Centre. Staffordshire University UK. Viewed September 22, 2010. Weller, Martin. 2007. Virtual Learning Environments: Using, choosing and developing your VLE. Routledge. Read More